Blick auf Schloss Pillnitz, 1823

CommentaryThe window prospect looking out onto Pillnitz Castle could easily have been adopted by Caroline and Caspar David Friedrich in the stead of Johan Christian Clausen Dahl. Since 1823, the Norwegian painter had been living in the same house as his artist friend, situated at »An der Elbe 33« near the old town in Dresden. It is with the precision of a veduta that Dahl rendered the scene, for instance, the architecture of his studio with window embrasure and the expansive landscaped mirrored in the glass panes. Yet, it is Pillnitz Castle that Dahl’s broad view sets out to show, nearly completed in 1721 and built for Augustus the Strong in the Baroque style with oriental elements, so-called chinoiserie. The riverside palace with pier along the Elbe was not proximate to the building that housed Dahl’s studio, but was actually situated about twenty kilometers upriver.

The window prospect looking out onto Pillnitz Castle could easily have been adopted by Caroline and Caspar David Friedrich in the stead of Johan Christian Clausen Dahl. Since 1823, the Norwegian painter had been living in the same house as his artist friend, situated at »An der Elbe 33« near the old town in Dresden. It is with the precision of a veduta that Dahl rendered the scene, for instance, the architecture of his studio with window embrasure and the expansive landscaped mirrored in the glass panes. Yet, it is Pillnitz Castle that Dahl’s broad view sets out to show, nearly completed in 1721 and built for Augustus the Strong in the Baroque style with oriental elements, so-called chinoiserie. The riverside palace with pier along the Elbe was not proximate to the building that housed Dahl’s studio, but was actually situated about twenty kilometers upriver.